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Arts & Culture / Books

Is the Internet an Enormous Work of Realist Art?

Journalist Virginia Heffernan makes a compelling case that it is in a new book

Today, most poor renting families are spending more than half of their income on housing.

History of Now

Experts Have Been Studying Income Inequality for Decades. Has Anything Changed?

The author of the blockbuster book Evicted talks about those who came before him

Mary Reynolds sits in a moss-covered pod designed by the West Cork artist Peter Little.

The Unlikely, Charming Designer Who Is Changing the Face of Gardening

With weeds, critters and Celtic symbols, Mary Reynolds is transforming what it means to garden

In the tranquility of old Vienna, Stefan Zweig writes, one could never “dream how dangerous man can be.” This 1901 photograph shows a city market.

Austria

The Unhurried World of Pre-War Vienna

Author Stefan Zweig, who inspired Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, recalls Austria at the dawn of the 20th century

If Grit Breeds Success, How Can I Get Grittier?

University of Pennsylvania psychologist Angela Duckworth talks about her new book and the importance of the personal quality

The Biodiversity Heritage Library has the digitized version of the University of Toronto’s Fisher Library’s copy of Evelyn’s work

Celebrate National Salad Month with Rare and Historic Books that Include Your Favorite Leafy Greens

A Smithsonian librarian journeys through history and time on a quest to explore salads throughout antiquity

A furled chameleon tail obviously takes its shape from the rolling of a tube, but its pattern is distinct from that created by rolling an even tube, such as that of a garden hose. The gentle taper of the tail produces a logarithmic spiral—one that gets smaller, yet the small parts look like the large parts.

Art Meets Science

The Science Behind Nature’s Patterns

A new book explores the physical and chemical reasons behind incredible visual structures in the living and non-living world

Europe

Traveling to the Danube? Here’s What You Should Read, Watch and Download

Know before you go

Is Europe Returning to Pre Cold War Divisions?

Author Robert D. Kaplan notes the beginnings of a complex map, caused by Russian revisionism, the refugee crisis and a structural economic crisis in the EU

This photograph of Harper Lee was taken in 1961, one year after she wrote for the Grapevine.

Exclusive: Read Harper Lee’s Profile of ‘In Cold Blood’ Detective Al Dewey That Hasn’t Been Seen in More Than 50 Years

Reprinted here for the first time, the article was published five years before Truman Capote’s best-selling book

King Lear was deemed too dark for its 17th century audiences.

Is There Such a Thing as a “Bad” Shakespeare Play?

More than four hundred years after the Bard’s death, the quality of his works is still a fluid scale

Illustration from Merchant of Venice

Four Hundred Years Later, Scholars Still Debate Whether Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice” Is Anti-Semitic

Deconstructing what makes the Bard’s play so problematic

Berlin Face, Berlin, 2013

Fashion Photographer Klaus Mitteldorf Captures the Chaos of Modern Identity

These images evoke a world of endless distraction

An Oral History of “Star Trek”

The trail-blazing sci-fi series debuted 50 years ago and has taken countless fans where none had gone before

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

What to Read, Watch and Download Before Your Trip to India

Know before you go

Jaya Jaitly has fought for the survival of traditional crafts such as the earthen pots, pans, planters, piggy banks and pradip, or oil lamps.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

Meet the Woman Fighting for the Survival of India’s Traditional Crafts Culture

Jaya Jaitly aims to protect India’s cultural heritage from the threat of globalized marketplaces

Meet Molly Crabapple, an Artist, Activist, Reporter, and Fire-Eater All in One

With pen and brush, the talented journalist fights for justice in the Middle East, and closer to home

Mary Louise & the Liberty Girls

The Secret History of the Girl Detective

Long before Nancy Drew, avid readers picked up tales of young women solving mysteries

Innovators May Be Non-Conformists, But They Are Not Risk-Takers

In his new book, Wharton School professor Adam Grant looks at what really drives creativity and progress

Dennis the Menace

Dennis the Menace Has an Evil British Twin

Meet the lovable American cartoon character’s sinister counterpart

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